Of course, conspiracy theories are as old as human history and have deep roots in American history - Roswell, JFK, the moon landing, 9/11 - you know the drill. They are the natural byproduct of momentous events and have a lot of appeal to amateur investigators, as any X-Files fan would attest. (I've watched both the 9/11 "truth" movie Loose Change and its rebuttal, Screw Loose Change.) However, when innocent speculation for amusement's sake passes into unfounded paranoia about black helicopters, police states, and the New World Order, conspiracy theories can become dangerous. Unfortunately, conspiracy theories are increasingly becoming the knee-jerk response when conservatives are presented with facts that they don't like. They have broken out of the fringe and onto the mainstream media that is Fox News. (Fox is the number one cable news network and the number one source of "news" for many Americans. If you doubt it's mainstream, pull your head out of the sand. Also, if you're going to try the "both sides do it" false equivalency on this, please put forth similar theories peddled on MSNBC.) So I'd like to point out some of these conspiracy theories that Fox and others have recently obsessed over, and then I'll venture into somewhat darker territory, where even the Fox "journalists" fear to tread.
Crazy Like a Fox
Skewed Polls: Before the 2012 election, in about September, when poll after poll was showing Obama pulling ahead of Romney, conservatives at Fox and elsewhere refused to believe it. In their gut, "Mitt-mentum" was going to carry the day. So they explained away all that pesky data through the claim that the polls were obviously skewed by liberal media and polling outfits. They oversampled Democrats, obviously! They want Republicans to be dismayed and stay home! Nate Silver's in the bag for Obama! One pundit even launched an "Unskewed Polls" website claiming to have the real data, which conveniently showed Romney ahead. Of course, when the polls tightened after the first debate, they were suddenly correct again. For a couple weeks, anyway. Then the election happened, and Karl Rove had a meltdown live on Fox, because he apparently believed his own crap. And the Boston Globe reported that Romney almost conceded but then waited until Fox stood by its Ohio call. Witness the effects of falling far, far down the conspiracy theory hole. Post election, nearly half of Republicans thought ACORN stole it for Obama, even though that organization doesn't exist anymore. Anything to avoid accepting reality.
Skewed Jobs Numbers: While the liberal media was busy rigging polls, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was rigging unemployment data. When the September 2012 jobs report showed better than expected numbers, conservatives like Fox's Eric Bolling just knew it couldn't be possible. The BLS was obviously fudging the numbers to help Obama's reelection. Never mind that the BLS is a nonpartisan organization, its methodology is very transparent and available for anyone to examine, and that economists nationwide agreed the numbers were legit. The numbers just didn't "feel right" to former GE CEO Jack Welch, and therefore must be faked. Data, schmata. Social scientists everywhere were rightfully offended.
Benghazi and Hillary Clinton: There's way too much about Benghazi to go into much detail here, but suffice it to say that Fox has been desperately trying to make something out of the Benghazi attack when it's obvious to everyone else that, while mistakes were made, the idea of a mass government coverup is ludicrous. They connect the dots in obscure ways that exemplify the "best" of conspiracy theory - everything is plausible and nothing is irrefutable. I'm pretty sure I could just as easily make the case that Romney knew about the Benghazi attack in advance (his response was suspiciously quick in coming, don't you think?). But they really went off the deep end when they accused Hillary Clinton of faking a concussion to avoid testifying about Benghazi, even after she was hospitalized for a resulting blood clot. Fox's Laura Ingraham called it the "Immaculate Concussion" and had a good laugh about it. Can you imagine the conservative response if liberals had a hearty laugh about a Republican Secretary of State having a potentially life-threatening injury? Then during the testimony you had Senator Rand Paul calling Benghazi the "worst tragedy since 9/11" (never mind Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook, or the numerous similar attacks under the Bush administration) and Senator Ron Johnson claiming that Clinton had an "emotional response" to avoid answering questions. (And can you ever imagine him making that claim about a male SecState?) And on Feb. 6, with Clinton out of office, Steve Doocy on Fox & Friends had a good chuckle when he proposed that Hillary had had a facelift for the picture on her new website (he later claimed he was referring to the website having a facelift - I say the transcript says otherwise, especially since the website is brand new so can't really have a facelift. Like saying something is "new and improved.") It's all part of their plan to preemptively destroy Hillary should she decide to run for President in 2016. It's sexist, hypocritical (I see lots of the Fox ladies wearing what look like 7-inch heels) and shameful.
(Side note: I really can't stand Steve Doocy. I can handle most conservative pundits blathering on without much trouble, but something about the smirk on his face when he's spouting the latest Fox bullshit and the fact that he grew up in Kansas and has a degree from KU really makes me want to punch him in the face.)
Obama Shooting Skeet: When the White House released a photo of President Obama skeet shooting, they joked that Photoshop conspiracy theories were sure to follow. They were, of course, right. It's impossible for the conservative mind to fathom that a sissy, elite liberal like Obama would ever shoot a gun, so of course it's fake. Admittedly the White House could have handled this better; even David Axelrod copped to that. But given that Obama told a TCU skeet shooter in 2010 that he practices with the Secret Service, this conspiracy reaches pretty far and wide. It's a scary world, huh?
Fox Went Birther: Lastly, Fox rather fully embraced claims that Obama wasn't born in the US, starting in 2011 and continuing through the 2012 election by often giving Donald Trump a platform to air his nuttery. Again, there's too much here to really dig into, but the "theory" basically rests on crazy notions that a Harvard yearbook carries more legal authority than a birth certificate certified by the Republican governor of Hawaii; that Obama's parents planted a birth announcement in the newspaper because it might come in handy some day, like if their son ran for President; that the Bush-era FBI really screwed up in any background checks they did for Senator and candidate Obama's security clearances; and that, even if he was born here, because he has a foreign-born parent, he belongs to some kind of half-citizen class that no court anywhere has ever defined. The racist undertones of the birther conspiracy are palpable and offensive; for some conservatives it's just unacceptable that a black man lives in the White House. I highly, highly doubt this nonsense would exist if Barack Hussein Obama were white.
Glenn Beck and Agenda 21
Just a few years ago Glenn Beck was the biggest name on Fox, besides maybe Bill O'Reilly. He was even regarded as one of the most widely admired men in America. Now he's off TV (thank God) but has found a home on conservative radio, where he continues to promote loony right-wing causes, such as building a libertarian Disney World / utopian community in Texas. Beck is very much on the UN conspiracy theory bandwagon, which I touched on in my discussion of the Republicans' rejection of Bob Dole. Beck's grave concern is that the UN is going to forcibly implement something called Agenda 21 which will basically lead to the destruction of the American way of life. Like most conspiracy theories, there's a single grain of truth to this - Agenda 21 does exist. It is a completely nonbinding set of recommendations and ideas for action to promote sustainable development worldwide in the 21st century - you know, the kind of economic development that improves peoples' lives without trashing the planet in the process. Beck imagines that Agenda 21 is the first-step to an Orwellian future, with private property forbidden, people tattooed with ID numbers, and a one-world government deciding who lives and who dies. I'm not joking. And some politicians agree - newly elected Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz has said, "Agenda 21 dehumanizes individuals by removing the very thing that has defined Americans since the beginning—our freedom." Nice try, Ted. Unfortunately, way too many people are buying what Beck, Cruz, and others are selling.
The Dark, Scary World of Erik Rush and "WorldNutDaily"
This final section goes to a bit more disturbing place. I won't go so far as to call these conspiracy theories mainstream, but the website WorldNetDaily has a loyal following of many internet conservatives. This is, after all, the site that former and possibly future presidential hopeful Rick Santorum contributes to. It's important to be aware of these as they can spread further - witness birtherism - and what can be really frightening is to read the comments posted to some of these articles, whose posters often don't think the original writer goes far enough. To them Obama is literally the Antichrist at the head of the impending godless / communist / fascist takeover. I'd like to ask them why, if Obama is such a totalitarian, the government hasn't tracked their IP addresses and come knocking on their doors yet. It's true believers like these that make me glad the Secret Service is around.
Fanning the flames at WND and an even whackier site, Canada Free Press, is a writer named Erik Rush. He appears on Fox, too. Below are just a few of his "highlights," which I don't merit as worthy of full discussion. Note the prevailing lack of, you know, facts and the desperate call of "Why doesn't anybody else see this???" throughout.
- Obama will spark a civil war as he takes us to a communist state worse than the Soviet Union.
- Obama will confiscate Americans' guns to quash civil unrest in his move toward a totalitarian state.
- Obama will have a Stalin-style purge of military leaders on his way to the communist coup.
- Rush buys into the Sandy Hook conspiracy crap.
- Obama wants to put "Doomsday preppers" in concentration camps.
- Obama is selling land to China to help usher in the era of American communism.
- And, lastly, Obama will cancel the 2014 election to aid in his communist consolidation of power.
A Handy Reference
Finally, keeping track of the multitude of conspiracy theories just surrounding President Obama can be quite difficult. Fortunately, Mother Jones has constructed this useful Venn diagram chart to help you keep things straight. The accompanying article provides links to the sources of each theory. Take a look and remember that this is what happens when a large group of people refuse to accept reality. When that group comes to hold significant sway over one of a country's two major political parties, that is the real threat to democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment